Teen Driver Cited After Oldsmar School Bus Wreck

A teenager has been cited after the car she was driving rear-ended another car, pushing it under a school bus that had stopped this morning on Curlew Road, Pinellas sheriff's authorities said.

Courtney Fenton, 17, was cited for careless driving, sheriff's spokeswoman Cecilia Barreda said.

None of the five students on the bus was injured, said Lt. Tom Ott of Oldsmar Fire & Rescue.

The bus was headed to Calvin A. Hunsinger School in Clearwater and had stopped in the center lane on Curlew, just west of Gullaire Boulevard, because another school bus had stopped nearby to pick up children, Barreda said.

A 2000 Toyota Celica stopped behind it, but a 2003 Saturn Ion driven by Fenton did not stop and struck the Celica, pushing it partially beneath the bus, Barreda said.

Two people in the Celica - driver Subatha Suthakaran, 18, of Oldsmar, who had to be extricated, and passenger Rachelle S. Carnes, 17, also of Oldsmar - were transported to Mease Countryside Hospital, Barreda said. Fenton was also taken there, the spokeswoman said.

None of the three suffered life-threatening injuries, she said.

Five children ages 9 to 17 were on the bus. Some of them were checked by paramedics before they boarded another bus to get to school, Barreda said.

The wreck occurred at 6:36 a.m., Ott said.